Game of Thrones vs. House of Cards and More Social Media TV Battles

Game of Thrones vs. House of Cards: Who Just Won the Internet?

These days there are multiple ways to enjoy TV shows. You can save them into your DVR and binge watch them over the weekend, watch them on a delay after the kids are in bed, or plan your evening around watching the show live. However, some of us watch a show live AND interact with millions of people. It’s awesome.

Within the last year or so the panic of spoiler reveals on social media has been a burden placed entirely on our own shoulders. If you don’t want to know what happens during a show, it’s up to you to keep offline until you can watch the show; million of fans are not going to wait to talk about it. Epic fandoms have grown and exploded within social media, and shows have grown and evolved because of how the audience responds to plot points. The hashtag was made for TV battles.

The most brilliant battle raging at the moment happens to be between two shows: Game of Thrones vs. House of Cards. I love that House of Cards goes to social to pass the baton. With their nudgy message Tweeted last night, the Washington D.C. political show places themselves in the power seat.

(By the way, check out Toasty TV’s chuckle worthy mashup of the two shows!)

It was just a few months ago that social media was all about House of Cards. Immediately after all 13 episodes of the second season were released, Twitter began talking about the show. A social media accounting firm reported “thousands of mentions every hour” and “62% of the remarks are positive, with negative conversation virtually non-existent.”

House of Cards likes to tease and toy with its fans. Recently Beau Willimon, the show’s creator, played an April Fool’s joke on us by sharing a sneak look at season three ahead of schedule. NOT FUNNY BEAU.

Game of Thrones is so connected to their fans on Twitter that they actively listen to the chatter and come up with new ways to engage with their fan base. Last year HBO and the 360i agency wanted to have some fun while the show was not airing. Sabrina Caluori, who is the VP of digital and social media at HBO, discovered that the character of Joffrey was mentioned on Twitter over 30,000 times. Most of the times he was mentioned was because people hated him. The idea for a roast was born and then an incredible social media campaign with the hashtag #RoastJoffrey happened.

Scandal is another show that has viewers invested in the plot on multiple screens. Fans are highly engaged with actors who perform on the show, the writers, and the show’s handle. It is common for tweets from fans get favorited or retweeted which makes the experience feel special. ABC has said that when an actor or the show retweets a fan, it is a kind of responsive marketing like the modern day autograph.

Allison Peters who handles social for Scandal, led a panel at South by Southwest and according to Madame Noire, revealed, “Actors for future shows are being assessed by their social engagement activity and are encouraged to be ready and available to speak to fans when it comes to promoting and discussing their involvement in a series.”

WOW. That’s pretty big. It’s no wonder we have seen an increase in actors like Connie Britton from Nashville joining Twitter: It may be part of the job these days.

I love social media and I LOVE engaging with fans of TV shows while I am online. That shows and actors are now jumping in and joining the conversation is gravy and adds a new dimension to my enjoyment. Keep it up!

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